Contributed by Jim Hayes

Protesters dressed as lobsters outside the Liberal party Victorian election campaign launch on Sunday. Photograph: AAP

For a leader of a political party campaigning on law and order, Victorian Liberal Party leader could have done better than to be caught cosying up to known underworld figure Tony Madafferi, at the exclusive Rock Lobster Café.

It’s the reason why protesters who turned up outside the Liberal Party election launch in Melbourne’s well healed Ivanhoe, dressed up as lobsters and sang the B54 song Rock Lobster.

Wearing a costume is a unique way to draw attention to yourself. However, did you know that in Australia, it is against the law to dress up like Batman and Robin? For more obscure Australian laws head to the Ly Lawyers website.

The point being made is, that the law and order push nothing more but a cynical exercise to whip up fear, rather than take on real criminals?

There remain questions about whether there remains an association between Guy, Liberal Party, Madafferi and other organised crime figures.

One thing we do know is that the campaign does not mention a word about taking on these sorts of people. Advertisements imply that crime has run riot in the state ever since the Coalition lost office. Crime statistics do not support this. The number of criminal incidents decreased by 7.8 percent in the last financial year. And the rate pert 100,000 of the population went down by 7 percent over the same time.

Property damage and burglary have declined by 4 and 16.3 percent respectively. Justice procedures are down 7.3 percent.

This is hardly a crime wave.

The biggest proportion of crime has involved property and deception, which is not far from half of all crime. This covers anything from someone caught not paying on public transport to, indemnity fraud and corporate swindles.

A real law and order campaign, would target larger scale deception and fraud. But there is no mention of it in the Liberal Party campaign. So, what is going on? Simply, a political diversion aimed at fooling the people, by creating a false sense of fear. This in turn is used to justify a crackdown on the population in general.

It puts into perspective the African youth running riot in the streets lie that has been consistently peddled. Its authors know that a frightened population is a population that can be controlled and used. Thus, us the strategy that was used by John Howard over the boat people. Remember. They were going to destroy Australia, unless a firm hand was applied.

Of course, it is ridiculous that small group of refugees would never have the capacity to do this, even if they wanted to. The same applies to young Africans. But both groups have served as a vulnerable target, for those who wish a shift to imposing a brutal ideology. A bogey must be set up to sell the story.

Meanwhile, there is no talk about what the Victorian government could do to help take on the wrongdoings of the banks, to tackle corporate tax dodging on its turf, to engage in building a new sustainable economy, build solid economic foundations and a fairer and more inclusive Victoria. Nor is there any talk about pushing against corruption in business and politics. There is nothing worth speaking about on health and education.

The Liberal Party’s campaign offers nothing but more of the Same. No wonder they need to create a fantasy to cover this up and hope hope to hide it from the gullible.